Happy Never After
by LJ Salvatore
Summary: A Leah Clearwater story. After having her heart ripped out by the betrayal of her cousin and her boyfriend Leah is all but destroyed. She blames imprinting, something that happens to wolves when they meet their soulmates and the very thing that ruined her life. But is it all as it seems? Rated M for sexual content and bad language in some parts.
1. Chapter 1

Hi! This is my first Twilight fic, I hope you like it. It differentiates from the script a little bit but not much. Please be gentle on me, haha! I tried my best and I hope the story gets better as I go along. Please give it a read and a review! I would really appreciate it so, so much! Thanks so much, LJ x

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

Chapter One

LEAH'S POV

There was a knock at the door and I turned around to see who was there, groaning at the sight of my little brother. I didn't want to see him right now. I didn't want to see anyone right now. 'Don't you understand the meaning of 'leave me alone today' or are you just stupid?' I glared at Seth as he came into the room.

'I'm sorry, Leah. You know I don't like you being by yourself when you're like this, I feel horrible that I can't do anything to make you feel better'. Seth whimpered.

This wasn't what I needed. He might think he's helping but all he does is make my life harder for making me feel bad for trying to get him to leave. Seth was a good kid, too good as far as I was concerned, but now wasn't the time for him to be acting like a goody two-shoes. I didn't want to speak to him. 'I don't care, Seth. Please leave me alone. See? I'm asking politely. You should be proud of me for having manners. I won't be so polite if I have to ask a second time. Go away.' I hissed at him. I always found it difficult to control my temper, had done since I was younger, but since I became the first female member of the wolf pack, my ability to control myself had become even harder but ten times as deadly.

'Leah...' Seth began and then stopped, sighing in defeat. 'Okay, I'm going, I'm going. You can be a miserable bitch by yourself if you want to'. He turned and stormed out of my room, slamming the door behind him.

And then I was alone again, as I liked to be. I didn't like being around people, I didn't see the point of ruining their moods with my misery, which was what I was always accused of, and so I didn't accuse of being a party pooper all the time I stayed out of the window. It was easier that way. I didn't get in trouble when I was alone, I was able to feel, able to mourn, even though what I was mourning I wasn't sure of. Was it my father? No, I was pretty sure I was done mourning his death. Of course his death would hurt me for the rest of eternity but it wasn't the same thing any more. Now it was just a case of missing him at specific times, when I went past the park I used to go to when I was a child and he pushed me on the swings, I spent time by his grave talking to him, it made me feel better but this was something else. It was more than that. I'd been in mourning since before my father had died, I was mourning the death of the Sam Uley I had known. He was like a different person to me now, he wasn't Sam, the amazing person I loved so much and who cared for me above anything else, he was different now, he was completely emotionless when he looked at me. Those eyes which were once full of love and longing were filled with indifference, pity, he felt sorry for me but he didn't care. Not really. He didn't care for me in that way. Whatever he felt for me now was only a pale shadow of what he used to feel for me and even that was a poor imitation of the love he felt for Emily. Emily. The girl I'd considered my best friend, the one who'd been like a sister to me all those years, and now what was she to me? Nothing. She was nothing. She was nothing more than the girl who stole my boyfriend's heart and who would never get it back. I understood why, I'd been told enough times it wasn't a choice, they had no choice, it was just destiny, it's what happened but it didn't make it any easier. It was painful to think I'd lost the love of my life to an imprint. In life everyone has a choice unless you're a werewolf of course and then you can't even decide who you want to be with, fate decides it for you. Fate had screwed up my entire life and I didn't expect it to get it any better. Would it get any easier when I finally found my own imprint? When I became like Paul and Sam and the rest of them; madly in love with women or even children because nature had played some sick joke on us? I don't know. I didn't want to be like them. Even though I would finally move on from Sam, I didn't want to. Because at least I knew our love was real, we'd chosen to love one another, it wasn't because of who we are, it's because of what we did, how we truly felt and that meant everything. At least Emily was only loved because Sam had no choice but to love her but he had genuinely loved me and every chance I had I reminded her of that. She knew it too. I saw the hurt in her eyes when I rubbed it in. Good. It's about time she felt pain for what she'd done to me, willing or not, they didn't have to rub it in my face every time I was near them but they did.

Today was even harder than most days. Today was the anniversary of the day Sam asked me out and the anniversary of our relationship. I struggled to cope today more than ever before. I lost my temper with everyone more than usual, which basically meant every five seconds, and I cried too but I wouldn't admit it to anyone because I was supposed to be stronger now and I was but today I couldn't be. I felt like the girl I had been when Sam had re-appeared, the day he met Emily for the first time and the day that he told me he no longer loved me, that he loved Emily and he would never be able to be with me again. At that very moment my heart had been completely crushed and even now, even though I still hate everything especially him, for what had happened I had moved on. I had managed to have some kind of life without him, I wasn't completely crushed and heartbroken as that girl was all those months ago but today I felt that coming back. I felt that dread in the pit of my stomach, my heart hurting so much I felt like ripping it out and throwing it across the floor, the way my whole body ached with sadness and shame that I, Leah Clearwater, had been dumped. I didn't get dumped. When I was at school I was prettier than most and a lot of the guys fancied me, I'd had many requests but I didn't go there. When I met Sam I thought everything had changed, I met the guy I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but all everyone else saw was a guy with issues. No one thought he was good enough for me. I could have anyone and I chose Sam Uley. What a brilliant choice that turned out to be.

_Two years ago_

_'You do know Sam fancies you, don't you?' Rebecca winked as we crossed the road to my house._

_'What Sam?' I asked, confused. I was distracted. With finals coming up in a couple of weeks I was trying to concentrate on them but I wasn't doing the best job. Sociology was taking up way too much of my time and I didn't have enough time to do my Maths revision and Maths was also a problem. I didn't have time for anything else other than school._

_'Sam Uley, he lives a couple of blocks away from you. He's Allison's son, you know Joshua Uley? The man who moved away a few years ago? Our fathers knew him anyway, well that's his son with Allison. He's pretty hot'. Rebecca beamed at me. She already had a boyfriend and had been trying to convince me for the last year and a half that I should follow suit. It wasn't as though I was short of offers, without sounding too arrogant, but I didn't really want a boyfriend now._

_'Well if he's so hot then why don't you make a move on him?' I cocked an eyebrow at her teasingly._

_'I already have a boyfriend'. Rebecca sighed._

_'Since when has that ever stopped you?' I poked her in the side teasingly and we both laughed. Rebecca wasn't afraid of dating two guys at once, she was notorious for it but she was my best friend and I had so much fun hanging out with her. Even though she was close with her twin sister Rachel, I wasn't and we didn't often spend time together as a group, I preferred it when it was just me and Becky, as I liked to call her, and then when Rachel wanted her sister back I'd call my cousin Emily. She came to La Push whenever I called her up, whenever I wanted to see her, she was amazing like that and I loved her like a sister. My life would never be the same without Emily Young and Rebecca Black keeping me company. When I wanted to be wild and free Rebecca was the best one to be around and when I needed advice and girly chats Emily was there for me. I never felt alone. That was how I liked it._

_'I would have made a move if he didn't stare at you like you were some kind of goddess'. Rebecca laughed. 'Seriously Lee, have you never caught the way he looks at you? It's amazing. I wish someone would look at me like that'._

_'Aww come on, you're just trying to make me feel better for being single and alone'. I pouted._

_'Single, maybe, but alone? Leah, you're one of the most popular people around. I doubt for one second that you'll ever be properly alone'. Rebecca poked me back. 'I wish I was as loved as you sometimes'._

_'You are!'_

_'Oh really? Cos boys only seem to go for me when it seems clear that you won't go for them. Leah, everyone loves you. I wish you could see that!' Rebecca insisted. 'Don't you love being loved?'_

_'Not really'. I shrugged. 'Sometimes it gets a little suffocating'._

_'One day, Leah Clearwater, when you're all alone and sad you're going to regret not making the most of this'. Rebecca warned me._

_'I thought you said I'd never be alone'. I reminded her and she rolled her eyes. 'I wouldn't want to be alone forever but just….sometimes when you have too much of a good thing it's not that much of a good thing any more'._

_She gave me a playful shove. 'You make no sense, you know that right?'_

_'I've never made any sense and you've only just figured that out now?' I teased her again. 'Someone either needs a new best friend fast or you're just going to have to accept me for who I am'._

_'And who am I supposed to make my new best friend, Lee?' She raised an eyebrow. 'I don't see too many hot popular girls on La Push that can pass on the hot guys who they won't date to me. I won't get any boyfriends if you're not around'. She grumbled. 'Unless of course you decide to take them up on their offers but you'd never do that because you love me and I'm your number one girl, okay?'_

_'I love you and you're my number one girl'. I poked my tongue out at her. _

_'Good'. She linked her arm with mine and we skipped down the street, past the shop and round the corner towards the Black house where I spent most of my afternoons when we were stopped by someone calling my name, a male voice but not one I recognised._

_'Hi Leah'. I looked up into dark brown eyes and was startled to realise that I did recognise his face after all. I'd seen him around a few times but never spoke to him or discovered his name. His face was handsome, incredibly so, but he looked worn down and seemed more mature than you'd expect a guy at high school to be. If he did go to high school which was what I assumed he was doing even though I hadn't actually seen him at school._

_'Erm hi'. I answered, biting my lip a little. I wasn't used to being awkward around guys, I treated them like they were nothing special, didn't want them thinking I liked them but speaking to him left me tongue-tied and nervous. My heart was actually racing and that kind of thing never usually happened to me. 'Erm….h-how do you know my name?' I cringed mentally at the thought of what I just said. Of all the things that I could have said I acted like I was on the defensive, as though I didn't want him to know my name. Did he think I was rude? Did he think that meant I didn't like him? Why did I care? I didn't normally but right now I seemed to. I cared more about some guy whose name I'd only discovered five seconds ago than I did about all the guys that I grew up with and shared memories with. _

_'Actually everyone knows your name around here, Leah. I've lived here long enough'. Sam chuckled. 'My name's Sam, by the way'._

_'I know'._

_I heard Rebecca sniggering from behind me and only just remembered that she was still there. I was lost in his brown eyes, his tanned skin, the way his mouth was set so firmly as though he was always serious but then when I said that I caught the way the corners of his mouth twitched and he smiled. He was trying to tease me but all I could think was how beautiful his smile was, how white his teeth were, how his whole face seemed to light up when he smiled. _

_'So how do you know my name?' He asked, raising an eyebrow. The tables had been well and truly turned but I didn't think I could think of such a smooth answer as he had. Shit. Why was this so hard? For the first time in my life I was speechless, completely distracted by his good looks, completely lost for words because I was worried in case I said the wrong thing, if it offended him or made me look like a stalker or worse; like I was in love with him._

_'Rebecca told me your name when we were walking home sometime and we saw you. You didn't see us because we were across the road from you and we didn't know you so we didn't call to you. I'm not that kind of girl'. I blurted out, my cheeks burning. What a stupid answer, he probably thought I was stuck-up or stupid or both. _

_Sam seemed amused though. 'Well great, hopefully I can see more of you sometime. Give your father my best, won't you?'_

_'You know my father?' I asked surprised. For some reason it had never occurred to me that he would know my family. I know I kept myself away from my family a lot and probably didn't see enough of them to actually notice who they spoke to but it never would have been a consideration that this stranger-this incredibly handsome stranger-would know my own father._

_'Yes, I know your father quite well actually'. Sam seemed even more surprised by the question. 'He's been very good to me. He knew my father and he's taught me a lot about my family history and….stuff. I'm surprised I haven't seen you around actually, I've been to the house a few times. I actually went on a fishing trip with your father and your brother a few months ago. Rebecca's father was there too. She didn't tell you?'_

_'Rebecca hasn't told me a lot of things she should have a lot sooner than she has'. I told him broodingly. How did I not know this guy? It was insane! He hung out with my father, he'd been to my house, he knew my brother, he'd been with the Blacks as well and my best friend never mentioned him before. She always mentions the handsome ones and I hadn't seen much more handsome than him around here, if any._

_'Oh…..okay'. Sam shifted from foot to foot, awkwardly. 'Well actually I've got to go now, Leah but it was really nice speaking to you for the first time. Maybe I will see you again sometime?' Now this was the catch. Normally when a guy said 'maybe I will see you again sometime' I set them straight, made it clear there was no interest on my part and that was absolutely the last time they were going to be allowed to speak to me, I could be slightly cruel sometimes to get my point across but it's worth it to have some peace, but this time I found myself nodding my head and smiling at him. His face was more hopeful and cheerful now than it had been five minutes ago and I could swear he was whistling away to himself as he walked away. What was I thinking?_

_'I can't believe he completely ignored me'. I heard someone complaining in my ear and I came back down to earth turning to Rebecca. 'Oh don't give me that look, Lee. I didn't tell you about him because I didn't think it was important at the time and I know exactly what you're like with guys and I wanted to spare him the heartache of asking you out and getting turned down as they always do. I don't think you can complain when he's totally into you, you could see it in your eyes, you're not the one who was completely invisible. He didn't even look at me.'_

But now they did look at her, Rebecca had become hot property when she left school, she really went for it, she blossomed into this goddess of a woman and she was irresistible. Even I had to admit if I was a bloke I would tap that. Both she and her sister were stunning. Sure, my looks hadn't deteriorated and I still got appreciative glances off guys but now I wasn't approached. I was considered the bitch of the town and no one would dare come near me because it wasn't worth the risk.

Now _I _felt invisible. When I went to pack meetings, when I went to public functions my mother dragged me along to, whenever I saw him _he didn't even look at me. _The roles were reversed except they weren't. Not really. Rebecca didn't get attention from Sam, she got attention from her surfer husband in Hawaii, the girl who got attention from him was Emily and I think that hurt more. The betrayal almost crippled me, even now it threatened to consume me, I had screaming fits, I had moments where I wanted to jump off a cliff and end things and moments where I realised that wouldn't work because I couldn't fucking die and then I'd have another screaming fit. But nothing got better, nothing improved, not now, now it was just a painful hole never to be filled again, my heart felt as though it no longer existed, it had been broken and ripped to pieces, I wasn't the same person I was once before and I was never going to be that person again.

Rebecca had put up with being second-best to me at school but now she was put first.

Now she had her happy ever after.

All I was looking towards was a happy NEVER after.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to do another update and it's a little bit shorter than the last one. I will try to make sure I update quicker next time. Anyway this chapter is really just filler leading up to a much more interesting third and fourth chapter! I hope you enjoy it anyway and please let me know what you think of it.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. I'm broke.

Chapter Two

SETH'S POV

Everything was a mess. We all carried on as if it was nothing, as if everything was fine, and that the way Leah behaved was normal but it wasn't, it was shameful. She wasn't the girl she once was and it wasn't fair. Life had well and truly screwed her over and I don't know if she will ever fully recover. No, scratch that, she never will. She will always be left scarred by what happened. She will never get over losing her beloved boyfriend to the one person she'd been so convinced would never betray her. I tried my hardest to cheer her up but it didn't work, it never would, my sister's beautiful cheerful smile had been replaced by a mask of anger and fury at anyone and everyone. No one escaped Leah's wrath.

I was halfway to the shop to buy some snacks when I caught sight of Sam out of the corner of my eye. Sam, our Alpha. Even though technically Jacob had taken over when he defied Sam's orders to help the Cullens and Leah and I left to help guard them Jacob hadn't stuck around. After imprinting on Bella and Edward's child Jacob became totally devoted to the Cullen family, if only for the sake of Nessie, but he was there for them nonetheless and when they decided to move on to avoid suspicion-they'd been in Forks for a while and they certainly weren't looking any older-Jake hadn't even considered anything else; he went with them without a second thought. It had hurt Billy greatly but he had Rachel and Paul around to keep him company so it wasn't too bad. I didn't know if I could forgive him for just taking off like that though. He'd abandoned his own father, his sister, me...Leah. Oh Leah. She'd never admitted Jacob leaving had affected her but it had. It was just another person she'd lost to imprinting. It wasn't the same thing with Jake, of course it wasn't, she wasn't in love with him like she was with Sam but they were becoming friends, she was finally warming up to someone, having conversations, enjoying spending time with someone and along came Nessie Cullen and boom! That was another one gone.

I was mulling over a hundred and one things in my head as I collected and paid for my snacks and I didn't notice Sam waiting for me outside the shop door. 'Seth', he called to me as I went to walk past him.

I looked up from where I had been staring at the ground, deep in thought, and tried to put as pleasant a smile on my face as I possibly could. 'Oh hey Sam, what's up?'

'Leah didn't turn up to patrol with me today'. Sam replied. His tone suggested he was frustrated with Leah and perplexed but at the same time he was holding something back; guilt. It was the reason he didn't go storming round to the house demanding to know why she was late which is what he would have done if she'd been Jared or Paul or even me but because it was Leah and because it was his fault she was the way she was he tried to avoid confrontation as much as possible. He gave her a bit of a leeway, God knows she deserves it even if she is a huge pain in the butt at times, but it didn't make much difference. She still hated him for what he'd done to her, what he and Emily had done to her life, and he knew as well as I did she would hold this against them for the rest of her abnormally long life.

And considering she's not going to age and she can't die that's a pretty long time.

'She was ill today'. I excused her. He knew it was a lie, of course it was a lie; werewolves don't really get sick but he didn't push the subject, just nodding a little bit. 'If you want I can step in and do a shift tonight so you don't feel too hard done by'. I offered. It wasn't hard for people to tell that there was animosity between the two of us and had been for quite a while, ever since I found out exactly what had happened between him and my sister, but this was different. Over the last couple of months I had really begun to get the urge to punch the guy, just punch him straight in the face and then see what happened next. He'd probably fight me and beat me easily but at least then Leah could see one person cared about what had happened to her. Everyone else just brushed it off and didn't think it was relevant or right to feel sorry for her but at least Leah could see that I disliked Sam for making her this way, not disliking her for being this way. I know it wasn't Sam's fault he imprinted on Emily but he didn't exactly go about it the right way with telling Leah what had happened.

_'I don't want to hear another word you have to say to me because if you insist on carrying on talking I am going to insist on punching you'. I heard my sister's high-pitched squeal from the kitchen where I was making a sandwich. It sounded like she was actually in tears and she needed comforting which was surprising because Leah never ever liked displaying what she perceived to be signs of weakness. I stopped cutting the bread, putting down the bread knife and stepping curiously into the hallway. 'What's going on here?' I asked politely. Sam had recently bulked up after disappearing for a few weeks and he was now a size I really didn't want to mess with. _

_'Tell him, Sam. Tell him what a disgusting, useless, horrible, cheating, two-faced shithead you are'. Leah screeched, her eyes looking as though they were about to pop out of her head, pointing an accusatory finger at her boyfriend. He looked upset, a little annoyed but he didn't seem to be grovelling on his knees begging for her forgiveness as he had done in the past when he'd upset her and believe me whatever he had upset her with in the past was nothing compared to now. 'Tell him!' She hissed at him. Sam's expression remained unmoving, he barely glanced in her direction. 'Okay I guess I will tell him then.' Leah snapped. 'My amazing boyfriend here decided that the best way of showing his love for me was by sleeping with my own cousin'._

_My face must have been a picture. I couldn't quite work it out in my head, partly because I was confused as to which cousin she was talking about, but when I saw Emily standing outside looking sheepish it hit home what they'd done. Seeing the way my sister crumbled to pieces in front of me, even though she'd always been the strong one, and seeing how emotionless a usually compassionate Sam Uley was I never could have appreciated there and then how much my life was about to change and how we'd never be the same again._

_And that was the day Leah Clearwater, the real Leah Clearwater, was destroyed. _

'Seth!' Sam called my name as I passed by him to head home and I stopped. I didn't want to speak with him but as Alpha I had to listen to what he said. 'Seth, tonight there is no patrol. We are going to have a meeting, all the pack together. Get Leah and Paul and I will get the rest.'

I nodded. I wasn't one to hang around and talk to Sam unless I had to so I walked off and left him there. Truth was, I was more than a little intrigued by what this meeting could be about. It had been a while since we'd had one. Of course we were occasionally all needed to work together on patrol but to actually cancel the patrolling of our lands and to have a proper meeting? That was rare. It hadn't happened since Jacob had decided to run off with the vamps and we needed to find some way of incorporating Leah and I back into the fold and Sam back into control of us. Neither I nor Leah were very pleased about that but we couldn't exactly be allowed to roam free with no Alpha, the mood Leah has been in for the last few months it wouldn't be good for her to have no one to listen to or obey orders for. The sad part was she'd been happy to have Jake take over so she didn't have to see Sam any more or hear him in her head when in wolf form but Jake deserted us and now she was back where she'd started-having to put up with that tool.

'Leah, patrol is cancelled. We have to go to a meeting'. I called up the stairs at her as I came into the house. I dumped my snacks on the kitchen table and waited as I heard the familiar sound of Leah thumping down the stairs in a mood.

'Why the fuck do I have to go to some stupid meeting at his stupid house with his even stupider fiancée and listen to whatever stupid shit comes out of his mouth?' Leah snapped.

'I don't know, he just said we have to be there and I had to make sure you and Paul knew about it'. I shrugged. 'There's no point arguing, Leah. Just be the bigger person and grin and bear it'.

'I'm sick of being the bigger person'. Leah hissed angrily and went to storm off.

'Have you even tried it?' I shouted back at her. She stopped in her tracks. I didn't often shout at her, if ever, but she'd really riled me with that last comment. When had she ever been the bigger person? 'A bigger person would hold their head high and show respect and restraint, you've never done any of that. You've always made it perfectly clear you will hold Sam and Emily responsible for the rest of their lives for a fate they themselves couldn't decide and yet you claim you're being the bigger person? How about you put a smile on your face and act like a normal human being for once?'

'I don't know if you noticed, Seth, but I think the days of us being normal human beings are long gone'. Leah replied sarcastically. 'And I can be the bigger person.'

'Oh yeah? Prove it'. I grabbed my snacks and walked out of the room and into the living room.

'Leah!' I shouted up the stairs and waited in the hallway with Paul. I'd walked over to get him less than twenty minutes ago, knowing it would take him a shorter amount of time to come over here than it would to get Leah to get ready. She didn't even put make-up on or anything like that, she just took her time because she loved being awkward. She felt it was the only way any of us would take any notice of her but it was so annoying. I know that she was hurt by Sam but it wasn't our fault, we were punished for him imprinting on Emily even more than they were because we had to deal with her every single day.

'Leah get a move on, you lazy shit'. Paul yelled up the stairs. Paul, always tactful.

'I'm coming'. She called down the stairs and a second later we heard the familiar thump of her feet coming down the stairs. She looked and sounded different and Paul and I exchanged confused glances. She wasn't going to kill him for calling her names and she didn't look as if she was particularly pissed off either. 'Where are we going?'

'To Sam and Emily's I guess'. I shrugged and checked to see if her face would change at the news that we were going into what she considered to be enemy territory but she didn't move a muscle. 'We better hurry up or we'll get yelled at'. I muttered checking my watch. Patrol normally started at six thirty so I was assuming that was when the meeting was supposed to be held. I had forgotten to ask Sam any of the details earlier in my haste to get away from him.

We started walking over towards Sam's house. It was funny. It was winter and the snow should be here soon and I could remember so many years of freezing half to death on the treks to and from school because it was so damn cold but now it didn't affect me at all. No matter how cold it was, my body was too hot to feel a thing and that's not me bragging.

'So Leah, happy anniversary'. Paul smirked. I could have killed him myself. Paul was occasionally cool to be around, less of a fucker than Sam anyway but only because Paul hadn't been the one to hurt Leah, but he never ever missed an opportunity to tease her, to upset her, try to make her lose her temper. As difficult as Leah was to be around sometimes, Paul was much more of a nightmare. He just never knew when to stop. He found enjoyment in hurting her, in taunting her, in making her life even more of a misery than it already was. But she wasn't rising to the bait, she wasn't taking any notice of him whatsoever, she was keeping her eyes firmly ahead of her.

'Thank you, Paul. Let's remember this day forever more as the day I finally put Sam Uley behind me, let's make it a new anniversary'. Leah said brightly, brighter than I'd heard her in years, with a hint of a smile before walking on ahead of her.

'What has got into her today?' Paul whispered to me. There wasn't much point but there was no point telling Paul that; werewolves have superb hearing and Leah could hear him clearly, he should have known that but he's Paul, what do you expect? Intelligence isn't his strong point. I'm actually still in the position of trying to figure out what his strong point is.

'I guess this is her trying to be the bigger person'. I admitted with a grin. I was impressed even if Paul didn't understand what I meant and kept scrunching up his face with annoyance because he couldn't figure it out.

'Well she could have done that a long time ago'. Paul mumbled bitterly.

'Really? I don't think you can talk about being the bigger person when you've only ever tried to annoy everyone and upset people and then acted like a complete douchebag all the time. At least Leah has a reason to be this way, she hasn't always acted like this, you've always been a douche and I don't think that will ever change'. I snapped at him and walked off to catch Leah up.

'That told him'. Leah said with a grin. It was good to see her like that. Her eyes lit up and her whole face seemed to shine and radiate warmth. When I saw her like that it made my head hurt at what we'd missed out on and it made me so mad that this stupid imprinting had meant we only got to see this side of her once in a while rather than all the time. And when I saw how beautiful she was, how truly lovely she could be, it puzzled me that Sam hadn't even tried to break the imprint. Not once. He'd given himself up to it, to a life with Emily who, even though she wasn't bad, would never be a patch on Leah, not _this _Leah. Emily would never compare to her. I wonder if Sam realised just how well and truly fucked over the imprint had left him?


	3. Chapter 3

This might seem a little weird at first but I hope it makes more sense as we go along. Hope you like it. Please review.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything.

Chapter Three

When Seth stepped forward to knock on the front door, he felt a strange flutter of anticipation. Leah seemed to be trying to change, even if it was only for a few minutes, but coming to the home of the two people who had betrayed her, the two people who'd made her the way she was in the first place and he couldn't help worrying. He knocked twice and stepped back, waiting. Before they were all allowed to just walk in whenever they wanted to but recently Emily had changed her mind and demanded they all knock before being given permission to enter her home and she got mad if they didn't do it. Emily was so used to being the gentle soul but she'd changed too. Seth wasn't sure what had made her change, she had everything she'd always wanted, and no doubt was luckier than many women he knew, including his own sister, but she'd become angry, bad-tempered and irritable. Maybe it was because she knew what they'd all come to think of her, the names they called her behind her back, because when they'd all found out the truth about how Leah had discovered her relationship with Sam there had been no doubting that she was in the wrong. Even Paul, who spent half his life taunting Leah, knew she was a disgrace. Sam was still respected but not really liked. They all gave him the same treatment they gave Emily; silent resentment. They had to be so careful in wolf form not to make it obvious the rude names they called Emily in case Sam attacked them as he would for insulting his imprint.

There was the sound of someone shuffling their feet towards the door and then it opened and Emily's face peered around it. There was no mistaking the scarring on one side of her face but even that didn't take away from the fact that she was a pretty young lady. But despite that, even when she was scarless, there was no doubting she was no match for Leah. Love made you blind but imprinting made you a complete moron, Seth thought. 'Hey Em, we're here for the meeting.'

'There's a meeting today?' Emily looked surprised and annoyed. 'Sam never told me.'

'I'm sorry. He bumped into me at the shops and said that we had to be here at six-thirty. I didn't realise you weren't aware.' Seth tried keeping his cool but her condescending manner irritated him.

'Sam!' Emily called angrily and turned her back on Seth as she walked into the kitchen where her fiancé was standing. 'I thought you weren't going to tell them about this yet, find out if this was all true before you go giving them false hope.'

'It's not false hope at all, Emily, it's a lead.' Sam sighed. 'A lead that we didn't have and didn't know about for all these years and could have spared us all a lot of heartache. I know it's hard for you, Emily but just try to see this from Leah's point of view. She does at least deserve to know that I 100% didn't have a choice in the matter. She deserves to have the chance to find out the truth.'

'it's not about that. She already knows that you didn't have a choice. That became pretty obvious when Jacob Black imprinted on a leech's brat. Everyone knows that no one in their right mind would want to be in love with one of those monsters least of all a werewolf.' Emily hissed. 'I'm not worried about that. It's that it might give her the hope of breaking the imprint and that's not fair, Sam. After everything we've done together, after everything we've built together, I don't want that to fall apart and be destroyed.'

'Like it did to Leah, you mean?' Sam asked calmly. 'Leah had everything she wanted fall apart and be destroyed but that's fine as long as you don't have the same thing happen to you? She's a wreck, Emily, a complete wreck and it's not right to keep it from her.'

'But she will keep you from me.' Emily snapped before storming out.

Sam wiped his hands on a teatowel after he'd been busy helping to prepare the food for their evening meal and strolled out into the hallway to join Seth and...er, Leah. Or was it Leah? It didn't seem to be Leah at all, at least not the girl he'd grown to know over the last few months. The miserable, angry Leah had been replaced by someone else. The Leah of old, the Leah he used to love, she was smiling at her brother and talking to him about something, she barely even glanced up to see Sam and when she did she didn't look angry or completely emotionless as she had but just calm. 'Thank you for coming, Leah.' Sam smiled. 'Where are the others?'

'Right here.' Paul called walking in followed by the rest of them. Jared was already in the living room, helping himself to some of Emily's home-made cookies and Sam led them all in to join him. Naturally the cookies were already gone, you can't leave food around a hungry werewolf and expect them not to disappear faster than a vampire on the run, but that wasn't the point. They weren't here for a friendly visit to sit around and eat cookies and chat about irrelevant stuff. But had they ever been able to do that? They always had something to stress about these days. Now the Cullens were gone and the bad vampires were too, he had hoped things had settled down again. That was until he heard about the spell. It was something he was told about by Billy Black after Jacob had disappeared with the Cullens. Sam had believed there was no way of ever getting Jake to return but his father had thought differently and had told him something that he'd heard from Harry Clearwater before he'd died and wasn't sure what to do about it.

_'Billy.' Sam called as he walked into the Black's house and found the old man sitting in his wheelchair staring into space. He had been like this once too often since Jacob had disappeared with the Cullens and Sam didn't know how to make it better. He couldn't exactly bring Jake back, could he? But the old man had been practically deserted and Sam felt for him. His wife was dead, one of his daughters was in Hawaii and the other was too consumed in her boyfriend to even notice him and now his son, his only son, had run off with a pack of vampires, the enemy, the spawn of the devil in Billy's eyes and Sam could feel the old man's despair and heartbreak like a hole in the heart._

_'Sam.' Billy nodded at him as he came to join him in the living room. 'How's Emily?'_

_'She's fine. Just keeping busy with her cooking and cleaning, she spends a lot of time with Sue and she's trying to get on better with Leah.' Sam grimaced._

_'How's that working out for her?' Billy chuckled. He knew how much of a challenge Leah could be._

_'Leah's Leah. It's going to take much more than a few hugs and some home-made cookies for her to forgive Emily or me. A hell of a lot more, I doubt anything would work.' His voice drifted off. The end of his relationship with Leah was of a constant source of irritation to him. He was hurt by the way she behaved, knowing that every day when she was around it was a constant reminder of what an asshole he'd been, how much he'd hurt her, and how she'd never ever forgive him. He didn't blame her but he'd had no choice but to be with Emily, why could she not see that?_

_'Imprinting's damned us all.' Billy replied quickly and angrily. 'It's stolen two of my children away from me.'_

_'I wouldn't say it's stolen Rachel away. It's given Paul a purpose. Your daughter has had a major influence on Paul. She's made him a far better person.' Sam tried to reason with him._

_'She doesn't care for her old man anymore.' Billy said bitterly. 'Do you know that I have more contact with Rebecca and she lives in Hawaii? Bloody Hawaii and I talk to her more than my daughter who lives in La Push! She's consumed by that boy. And my son? He's consumed by a fucking leech.'_

_Sam blinked. He didn't often hear Billy Black swear, if at all, and it came as a surprise to him. Everything that had happened had made Billy a very bitter old man. 'I know that's something you find very difficult to deal with, I do too, but there's nothing we can do about it, Billy. We just…..have to let it be and hope Jake finds his way home again some day.'_

_'You and I both know that is never going to happen so please don't patronise me, Sam, and pretend like everything's going to be okay when it's not.' Billy snapped. 'I've lost my son for good and there's no getting him back. There will never be any way of getting him back and I'm just going to have to accept it or die with the shame of it all.' _

_Sam shut up. There was nothing he could say to make him feel better._

_'What do you think he's doing now? Holding some poor human down so that one of those Cullens can drink from them without any resistance? Do you think he helps them?' Billy mused._

_'Absolutely not.' Sam said angrily. 'The Cullens might be vamps but they're not those kinds of vamps. They won't do that to a human. Jake would never stand for that. You have to give him some credit, Billy. He's a good kid and he'd never let any harm come to a human.'_

_'Oh sure he wouldn't.' Billy replied sarcastically. 'Until his little imprint decides she wants to taste some human blood and then what? Is he going to defy his imprint? You and I both know that's impossible, Sam.'_

_Billy was right. Sam could never even dream of defying Emily. If he could, he would have done so a long time ago when he wanted to do the right thing by Leah but Emily hadn't wanted to. After he admitted what he was, how he felt for her, she insisted they begin dating there and then because there was no point defying human nature (or that's what she said even though he wasn't a human and so it didn't even make sense) but he'd hurt Leah badly and if there was one thing he would go back in time and change it was that._

_'Then there's nothing we can do.' Sam added, defeated. It was a shame. He didn't hate imprinting, he understood the importance of it and he loved Emily more than anything in the world but it didn't make it easy for him. Imprinting was the reason for every problem he'd ever had and it did upset him. _

_'There was one thing that old Harry said to me a couple of years ago before he died and it's really got me thinking. Maybe I'm just a silly old man who's gone half-mad with life's events and bad luck but if there's a chance that it might be true then I'd very much like to entertain that idea and hopefully come up with something.' Billy told him. 'Sam have you ever considered that imprinting is not natural?'_

_'Of course it is.' Sam argued. 'It's part of the wolf gene. When you become a werewolf you imprint, that's how it goes.'_

_'Maybe not.' Billy sighed. 'Do we even know how the idea of imprinting came into being?'_

_'Erm, not really but there must be an explanation.' _

_'Exactly. And the explanation is that it isn't natural. That the imprinting is obviously forcing you into being with someone is part of it but also the imprinting is now forced into being part of the wolf gene. It was never supposed to be part of a werewolf. Centuries ago when werewolves first emerged they didn't have imprints. They fell in love how humans fall in love; trial and error and all the rest of it'. Billy explained. _

_'That's not possible, Billy. Of course it's part of the gene. It's what we've grown to know, it's all we've ever known. We know so much about our past how is it even possible for us not to have known about one of the most important wolf traits there is?' Sam asked bewildered._

_'Because there was never any point believing otherwise. You might as well have accepted that imprinting was part of the wolf's trait because there was no way to avoid it.' Billy added. 'But there is a way to avoid it. There is a way to stop it now.'_

_'You know how to stop imprinting?' Sam raised an eyebrow. 'Are you being serious?'_

_'Yes, Sam of course I'm being serious. I'm being deadly serious. According to Harry, the imprinting isn't so much a trait, it's a curse.' _

_Sam snorted. 'This isn't a horror film, Billy.'_

_'I know that. Stop interrupting me.' Billy snapped. 'Harry believed that there was a curse put on wolves years ago due to a disagreement with the most powerful kind of supernatural being you will ever be able to come across and whom we haven't come across in centuries which is why we've never been able to break the curse and just had to accept imprinting for what it is even though it's ruined so many lives and stolen so many hearts along the way.'_

_'So what type of supernatural being are we talking about?' Sam asked, slightly amused. It seemed like Billy had been at the whisky again._

_'A witch.' Billy said proudly. 'A witch cursed us. The wolves and a witch had a disagreement and her response was to ruin everything that had ever been good; love and finding it the natural way. We've become so obsessed with imprinting finding us our true soulmate we haven't considered that perhaps it's wrong after all. What if I told you that imprinting made you imprint on anybody, not your soulmate?'_

_'You're going crazy.' Sam chuckled._

_'Sam, listen to me. Emily is not your soulmate, Leah is. We've all believed that for many years, always found it strange that your imprint was Emily, and we all thought it was rotten luck but it seemed like there was nothing we could say or do to change it. But you imprinting on Leah as you should have done wouldn't have caused problems. It would just have cemented your love for each other and then there wouldn't have been an issue. But because you imprinted on her cousin, the very girl she considered to be like a sister to her, the damage was immense. It's completely destroyed that young woman, it's caused problems for everyone and that's where the curse comes into play. It's not about imprinting on your soulmate but on people who it appears causes massive internal strife for everyone. Look at Paul, Jacob hates him and all of a sudden Paul imprints on his sister so that he can't stay away from him. And then there's me. I hate vamps more than anything in this world so my son imprints on one. Are you seriously trying to tell me that my son's soulmate should really be a newborn baby vampire? I don't think so, Sam, and you shouldn't think so either. Now if this all turns out to be the ramblings of a mad old man then I apologise, at least I provided some amusement but if it turns out to be something more then I expect us to do something about it.'_

'I asked you all here today because I have something very important I have to discuss with you all.' Sam said as they all sat around watching him. Credit to them all, they were a loud bunch usually but they were impeccably well-behaved tonight, listening to him carefully. 'Billy Black said something to me that you might either decide to laugh at or take very seriously indeed but either way I intend to find out as much information about this as I possibly can and I need your help. If it all goes well and Billy appears to be on the right path then this could change our futures forever.'


	4. Chapter 4

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**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

Chapter Four

Leah was staring in disbelief at Sam as he explained everything that had been discussed by him and Billy in their last conversation. Her head was spinning in shock and horror at what he was saying to her-to them-and part of her wanted to scream. But with what? Relief? Horror? The thought that imprinting might not be a natural part of being a wolf, that they didn't have to be like this, was somewhat comforting and part of her hoped it was true but at the same time she didn't want to believe that this had completely ruined her life for nothing. For some stupid disagreement between a werewolf and a witch they were all being punished for it. But that was the injustice of the world; people being punished ten times over for things that didn't even concern them. Look at the number of children, innocent in the world, killed in wars all because one country wanted to be more dominant than another. It was completely and utterly disgusting but it happened. It would always happen. But Leah didn't like it happening to her.

'This is completely ridiculous.' Jared shook his head. 'Witches don't even exist!'

'Really? Try telling some humans that werewolves and vampires exist and they will laugh in your face. Now that doesn't mean we don't exist does it? There are plenty of things in this world that exist that not many people know about and that's not proof they don't exist, just proof that people are ignorant.' Sam pointed out. 'If we can exist then what's not to say there are witches out there too?'

'But a witch that happened to possess the power to bewitch every single werewolf created? I highly doubt that you could ever find any witch that powerful. It sounds mad.' Seth looked dazed and shocked at the way in which this conversation was going. If he was honest he hated the idea. He always thought-biased or not-that werewolves were the most powerful species on earth. Yes, vampires were strong too but he didn't consider them to be on the same level. To learn that they were actually weak enough to be manipulated by some evil woman with a crooked nose and warts was disturbing. They weren't supposed to be able to be manipulated by anything.

'I don't believe you'. Leah spoke at last. Her voice was shaky and full of apprehension, understandable after all. This affected her more than anyone else. She was the one who had been hurt the most. 'If this is your way of trying to make yourself feel better about what you did to me then forget it. I don't believe you one little bit. I don't. This isn't possible, Sam, and you know it. This is a terrible excuse.'

Sam was perplexed by her claims. He should have understood how much this hurt her but to be accused of lying about this was ridiculous! Surely even she knew he wouldn't go to this kind of extreme just to try and justify what he'd done? There was no justification, no justification at all.

'Leah, it was Billy who came up with this theory not Sam, so your little idea of making Sam look like the bad guy once again is kaput.' Paul snarled at her. He hated this. How dare they try and make out like his love for Rachel was wrong? Why were they making it seem like he'd had no control; that some evil witch had put a spell on him to make sure that she loved him and he loved her? He knew that being a werewolf had its drawbacks but there was more to it than that. There was a lot more to it.

'Exactly. Thank you Paul.' Sam nodded. 'Leah, whatever happened between us I cannot apologise enough for it. You know I will never forgive myself for what happened and what I did was completely disgraceful. I went about it the wrong way and I have never been able to get over it but there is no way I had anything to do with it. Speak with Billy if you must, he will tell you himself what he said.'

'Billy is hanging on to a pipe dream. He wants to believe that someone manipulated his children into deserting him rather than accepting they did it because they didn't care.' Leah snapped. 'Jacob was selfish. He was always too eager to help the fucking leeches so let him! Why do we have to pretend that it was due to some woman's incredible power? Why can't we accept that it had more to do with the weakness of Jake's mind, his selfishness, that led to that?'

'Leah, there is no such thing as the weakness of the mind. Imprinting is too strong! If you'd imprinted you would know that. Do you honestly think any of us wanted to imprint on the women that we did? Think about it Leah. We all imprinted upon women we were the least likely to fall in love with. I loved you. I loved you more than anything and I never looked once at Emily. She never once made eyes at me whilst we were together, before what happened happened, I don't care what you think of her now you have to give her that much credit. Jared fell in love with a girl he'd never even noticed before. Quil fell in love with a freaking baby! The imprint is too strong. It takes whoever it wants.' Sam shouted back at her, his face going bright red with annoyance. 'You don't understand this because it hurt you and you've never felt the benefit of this kind of love. One day you will and then you will learn that it's not weakness, it's something much more than that. You have one of the strongest minds I've ever seen, Leah, even after everything you have not faltered and imprinting will come to you too.'

Leah looked as though she was either going to burst into tears or slap Sam for his words. But in her mind she knew he was right and she dreaded it more than anything. More than anything she didn't want to imprint. She wanted to fall in love naturally, to feel the pleasure of feeling something for someone that wasn't forced, that happened over time and came about because you'd learned everything there was to know about them, you felt safe around them and you wanted to spend the rest of your life with them because they'd proven themselves to them. It was one of the most beautiful things about being human, one of the things she'd miss the most. It might sound amazing to find your soul-mate without even trying, of knowing you'd never have to be with anyone else, but it all meant was that people would never be able to leave. No matter how miserable you felt around your imprint you had to stay. Your imprint could be the evillest person on the planet but you would have no choice but to remain with them. You would keep being pulled back towards one another; you wouldn't be able to stay apart.

Sam sighed as he looked sadly at her. It was a shame what she had become. She had once been so willing to trust him, she trusted him over everything and now she didn't trust anything that came out of his mouth; she wasn't even willing to believe something that could give her hope. 'I'm sorry.' He muttered quietly before leaving the room.

He stepped into the kitchen and closed the door behind him to have a moment of peace before all hell broke loose, he knew these people better than he knew himself, but as he turned around he saw a furious Emily glaring at him. 'Em….', he began to speak as he stepped towards her, opening his arms for her but she moved away from him, her glare unforgiving. 'Em, I was just trying to-'

'You were trying to ruin everything we've worked so hard for, Sam. It's unforgivable.' Emily interrupted coldly. 'It's like you don't love me because you're trying so hard to find a way to escape. You don't want to get married, you're trying to find an escape route by believing a crazed old man's rambling about something that doesn't even exist. You're pathetic, Sam.'

'Emily, I am not trying to do anything to you. I'm sorry if it feels like that, it's just wrong of me not to take this into consideration. For the sake of the pack, I'm Alpha, Emily, I have to do what is right.' Sam explained patiently. He loved her, of course he did, but she was such an angry person sometimes and resented him ever doing the right thing if it meant pissing her off along the way.

'I don't want you getting involved in this, Sam. I don't want you having anything to do with this whatsoever. It's wrong, Sam. Just stay away.'

Sam sighed. He didn't really have much choice but to stay away if Emily continued to demand it. He couldn't hurt his imprint. He heard the sound of the front door slamming and went back out to see who it was; probably Leah being a drama queen as always. She was so good at it so why stop now? He checked the living room to make sure and was surprised to see it was only her and Seth remaining. 'Where did they all go?'

'Seems they didn't take too kindly to the possibility that their soul-mates actually be part of a cruel joke being played on them by an old hag on a broomstick.' Leah replied sarcastically but her tone was different, softer, less fury in it than it had been earlier. She stood up, straightening herself and gave him a rather pointed look. 'This theory of Billy's sounds ridiculous but it also sounds possible. Imprinting just seems too fucked up for there not to be something else involved. I have never been able to understand why it has to be a werewolf trait and now there is an explanation for that. I'm not saying I believe you and forgive you for everything you've put me through but there could be a lot more to this than we all thought.'

Sam nodded. 'I think there is plenty for us to find about.'

'If we could just track down this witch or even just a powerful one who can eliminate the curse then that would be a good thing for everyone. We won't ever have to imprint.' Seth said eagerly.

'No, Seth.' Leah said slowly. 'I don't think this is a good idea.'

Sam and Seth exchanged puzzled glances. 'I thought you of all people would be interested in getting rid of imprinting.' Sam said quietly.

'I wish it had never happened. I wish I'd never been turned into a wreck because of something that I always believed was out of everyone's control and now I know could possibly be stopped. But it's too late for all of that, I've been hurt but releasing ourselves from this spell is not going to stop the pain. It will never go away, I will never forget what happened.' Leah spoke sincerely and her voice was full of passion and anger but also pity at the same time, an odd emotion for her to show. 'I know that I've been hurt but so many people will be hurt if the imprinting is lifted. Marriages will end, relationships torn apart, beautiful love between people falling to pieces. Look at Kim. If Jared hadn't imprinted on her she would have been too shy to ever be with anyone else. Imprinting has done a lot of damage but it's also done some good and she especially doesn't deserve to have that taken away from her. Chances are this is all a story and it's part of us, it will never change and then what? We've lost nothing. We stay the same and we have to deal with it the same way we've been dealing with it all this time. But if we actively seek to end this and if it's true and we're released we lose everything and the people we love most will be affected the most.'

Seth bit his lip. The thought of avoiding imprinting was amazing, he wanted it to be true so badly, he wanted to have the chance to fall in love properly and in one sense he wanted Emily to feel the pain Leah had felt when all of Sam's emotions had been switched off for her and he'd left her heartbroken. In his opinion, Emily deserved everything she got and more. And yet what Leah said was so true, so right, and so unbelievably selfless of her he couldn't argue.

'We can right the wrongs of the past.' Sam added.

'And make more wrongs along the way? No. I won't do it, Sam. I won't hurt Emily the way she hurt me. It's different cos you and I are never getting back together but I would still be tearing her lover away from her for my own selfish reasons. For once, I'm going to be the bigger person, Sam.' Leah added triumphantly.

Sam looked defeated and shrugged nonchalantly. 'Well I guess what you say makes sense. There's no need to hurt anyone else and it's probably a little too far-fetched anyway.' He nodded towards Seth. 'I'm sure your brother agrees.'

'I don't actually.' Seth blurted out. 'I don't agree at all but I won't fight about it because I'm not that kind of person. It's you two who fight, make the decisions, fight again over it and I have to just put up with it even if I don't think it's right.'

Leah smirked. 'That's what happens when you're the youngest. You have to work your way up to the top.'

'Oh yeah?' Seth snapped. 'And by that time I will already have imprinted and thrown my entire life away. By then I will have some woman controlling my life to the point I'd probably kill my own sister if she dared to insult her! Yes, thank you for making that decision for me. That's ever so kind of you.' He stormed out.

'Well, that went well.' Leah joked drily.

'Brilliantly well.' Sam rolled his eyes. 'I'm sorry about-'

'Don't mention it again.' Leah told him sharply and turned her attention to something behind him and he looked to see Emily standing there. 'I better go now.'

'Not on my account I hope.' Emily quipped with what Sam believed to be a forced smile. She was trying to look polite in front of Leah when she wanted her to disappear so she could explode.

'Of course not.' Leah smirked before nodding towards Sam and leaving. This was the closest they'd been to being civil to one another and Sam couldn't help thinking it was a victory of sorts.

'What did she say?' Emily barked as soon as the door was closed. 'I bet that bitch demanded that you go looking for the witch right away, didn't she? I knew that she could be manipulative but if I say no then that's it, Sam, you listen to me.'

'Actually she said she didn't want us to go searching for the witch because she wasn't sure she believed it and she didn't want to hurt anyone else, including you, which means she deserves a lot more respect than you referring to her as a bitch!' Sam hissed. 'I think it's time you learned to think first and then speak or you might be in serious danger of stealing Leah's crown for queen bitch around here.'

He stormed out, leaving Emily motionless.


	5. Chapter 5

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**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything.

Chapter Five

Emily heard the sound of the front door opening and slamming as Sam ran out of the house for patrol. He was late this morning. She'd let him sleep in. Normally she would wake him up so they could eat breakfast together before he left but today she didn't want to spend time with him. She didn't care if he didn't want to spend time with her either.

He didn't understand how hurtful it was for her going through what she was experiencing. She saw her fiancé, the man she loved more than anything in the entire world, trying to find a way out of their relationship, their love and it destroyed her inside. She didn't care if it was just an imprint to him, he was her everything but she was fast becoming his nothing.

Why had it taken Leah saying she didn't want to investigate Billy's claims for Sam to stop searching? She'd told him she didn't want him doing these things, normally when she spoke he listened, and a really sinking feeling in her gut made her wonder if somehow, just by believing this story could be true, had lessened the impact of the imprint somehow. She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to believe that she would always have a hold over him but it wasn't so obvious now and it worried her.

She was baking bread in the kitchen when the doorbell rang and she went to answer it, wiping her hands on her apron. When she opened the front door she wasn't too shocked to see Seth standing there, glaring at her. For a long time he'd been on her side, he'd understood she and Sam didn't have a choice but to break his sister's heart, but then one day he'd turned on them and treated Emily as though she was some kind of whore ever since.

In her opinion, the boy was becoming far too much like his grouchy bitch of a sister for her liking.

'What do you want?' There was no point pretending to be nice to Seth, he didn't give back what he received. He spoke to her in a distasteful tone regardless of whether or not she was nice to him.

'I want you to stop interfering and let Sam find out the truth. It would be better for everyone but you if we knew what really happens when we become werewolves. Don't be selfish for once in your life.' Seth barked at her, his eyes flashing with anger.

'There is nothing selfish about what I am doing. These claims were made by a bitter old man who only sees the bad in the process. He doesn't see what can be good about imprinting and neither can you. Even Leah understands that imprinting has to remain. And besides, this whole idea is completely ludicrous. Imprinting is part of the wolf gene, no spell could possibly be strong enough to have an impact on every single werewolf.' Emily pointed out calmly. 'You're all hanging on to some kind of foolish hope that there could be more to life than what you have but you will have to accept it eventually. One day you will imprint and then you won't care about this whole witch thing any more.'

'We deserve to know.' Seth punched the wall in fury, clenching his teeth together. 'Stop making Sam listen to you. It's not fair. He has to do the right thing by all of us and not just by you. What you're doing is selfish and it's wrong. I hate what you're doing to us.'

'I'm doing nothing.' She replied.

He snorted. 'One day, Emily, everything in your perfect little world is going to come crashing down around you and when it does, Leah and I will be the first to laugh. We won't forget what you've done. We'll never forget. Werewolves have incredible memories. What you did pretty much just proved that you are the most selfish, vindictive bitch I've ever met.' He chuckled bitterly before adding 'and yet we always thought the worst of Leah.'

'You have no right to stand in my house and judge me like that.' Emily shrieked. 'Get out of my house.'

'With pleasure,' he smirked and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Emily just stared after him with a foul expression on her face. She'd had enough of these Clearwater's thinking they ran the place, she didn't care if they were related or not. Sam was the fucking Alpha around here and the sooner he began acting like it and they accepted it the better! Things were getting out of control and she had to put an end to this one way or another.

She thought it through for a couple of minutes, it was a risky thing to do, but she'd been left with no other option.

Leah heard the front door slam and turned to see her wayward brother storming into the house looking like he was about to commit murder.

'Seth,' she called to him but he ignored her, running up the stairs to his room and slamming his bedroom door as loud as possible.

He was such a child, she rolled her eyes. But then she'd been this way as well not too long ago so maybe she should make allowances for him. She couldn't bring herself to though. Something about his attitude irked her. If anyone had a right to be pissed over this imprinting business it was her, not him, and he should respect her decision instead of over-exaggerating.

And yet he had the audacity to accuse her of being childish and needing to be the bigger person.

Why couldn't he do that now?

She decided to leave him. A row wasn't going to help the situation and she knew better than to try and make him change his mind. He was a Clearwater-notoriously stubborn. They were all like that. It was in their genes. Leah herself had never been able to accept that imprinting was out of their hands; she was determined to hold Emily and Sam responsible for everything. Living in the past wasn't going to help her any more. Had she honestly expected that when Sam broke up with her moping about it would change his mind? It was going to be difficult for her to be truly happy without Sam in her life but she was moving on and the sooner she accepted there was no going back the better. She realised that now.

'Hey love,' her mother smiled as she walked into the kitchen. Sue Clearwater had been spending a lot more time over in Forks recently, 'chilling' with Charlie Swan, Bella's father and Leah had been ignoring it because she didn't want to accept it. She didn't like the idea of Sue spending any time with Charlie, no matter how nice he was, for some really selfish reasons. First of all, he wasn't her father and she didn't like her mother spending time with anyone who wasn't her dad, and second of all, he was Bella's father. The last thing she wanted was any kind of link between her family and the new leech. She couldn't stand Bella. Even now she still felt her blood boil over the girl. She was so pathetic, more than just pathetic, she was weak and stupid and Leah hated it.

But looking at her mother's flushed cheeks and girlish smile she felt her heart sink. This was what she didn't want. Her mother was happy. Charlie was making her happy and how on earth could she be selfish enough to believe that she could dare to keep her away from happiness?

'Hey mom. How was Charlie?' Sue raised an eyebrow at her in surprise. 'What?'

'You actually asked how Charlie was. That's rare.' Sue teased her. 'He's fine actually. Still a little sad that he can't see Bella but he's doing okay. How are you doing?'

'I feel…..okay. Really okay, for the first time in a long time I really feel fine.' Leah grinned. 'Do you want me to cook dinner?'

Sue blinked. 'Wow. Well, I wasn't expecting this but it's certainly a nice change. I tell you what, why don't we cook dinner together?' She smiled widely when Leah accepted her invitation. It had been hard for her to see her daughter suffering so simply because she couldn't deal with what was part of her; she was a werewolf, Sam was a werewolf and there was nothing they could do to change that. Sure, there were some pretty weird things that came with it but they couldn't change it. There was nothing she could do to make it better but it made her feel better that things were getting better for her daughter now. She'd never wanted to rub it into Leah but she couldn't help but think she'd over-reacted slightly when it came to Sam. There was nothing he could do to change his feelings for Emily and she had to come to terms with it sooner or later. She'd hoped Leah would deal with it and get over it in a few weeks but weeks turned into months and still there'd been no improvement in her attitude. She wondered what exactly had forced her into changing over the time it had taken her to drive to Forks, watch baseball with Charlie and Billy and come back.

'So what did you do over in Forks then?' Leah asked politely.

'Watched baseball,' Sue groaned. 'Billy Black was there too. Fun and excitement it was not.'

Leah snorted. 'How was Billy?'

'Oh you know, same old Billy Black. He still struggles to cope with Jake not being around any more. He's getting older, Leah. And he feels alone in the world, it's a tough time for him right now.' Sue sighed. She didn't want to admit how bad it had got at Charlie's. Billy had burst into tears when she mentioned Jake's name. He simply couldn't cope with it all.

Leah nodded. 'I feel bad for him. He gave everything to his kids and they took off as soon as they could and left him with nothing. At least he's got us.' She thought of something to herself for a second, biting on her bottom lip. 'Maybe we should start inviting him over to have dinner with us some more. There's always plenty left over and it's better than him being alone.'

'That's a great idea.' Sue beamed. 'I think he'd love the company.'

A nagging voice at the back of Leah's mind was telling her that he wasn't the only one who could do with the company. Part of her wanted to find out if Billy genuinely believed in all this witch stuff. She should have shaken the thought from her mind and refused to think of it again but she couldn't. She just couldn't. She thought it was maybe because Seth was putting so much pressure on her through all of this but a weird part of her wanted to believe that there was something more to this; even if it was going to cause problems. She knew that it was going to cause problems, there was no 'if' about it. She didn't want any more drama but yet she was curious. She couldn't help it. Curiosity was never a good thing, not in her opinion anyway and right now it left this weird gnawing sensation in the pit of her stomach. She was desperate to find out some more but then again she didn't want to know. It was a weird thing. She had been so determined not to want to find out but at the same time it was all she could think about.

It was over an hour when Seth came downstairs into the kitchen to find his mother and sister laughing and joking as they read through a recipe book together. He couldn't help but smile. This was what it used to be like before all the drama started; before Sam Uley came into their lives, everything was going well and there was a beautiful mother-daughter bond. It seemed to fall by the wayside when everything turned to shit. That was all that he could describe it as; it was 'shit.'

'What are you two doing?' He asked.

'What does it look like?' Leah poked her tongue out at him.

'Leah and I are cooking dinner together tonight.' Sue's eyes were shining and she looked genuinely happy. Seth's heart was warmed at the very sight. As if he wasn't warm enough.

He loved to see his mother happy and he could have kissed Leah for making her happy for once instead of frustrated and sad at the way she behaved. He'd often see her cry because of how miserable Leah was and how there was nothing she could do to help her. She loved Leah so much, sometimes he wondered if she loved her more than him but he refused to let jealousy cloud his mind, and he knew that if Leah was really becoming a changed person then it was the best thing that could ever happen to them.

'So what are you cooking?' Seth asked again.

'Spaghetti Bolognese,' Leah called to him.

He couldn't remember if Leah was a good cook or not because it had been so long since she'd been in the kitchen trying to do it. Normally she walked in, grabbed some food from the fridge and walked straight back out again, she didn't even thank Sue when she cooked for her. It made him feel angry at the way they'd all been treated by her. He felt himself getting more and more frustrated. Leah had destroyed their lives for so long but then when they had found something that could change their lives for the better she refused to entertain the idea. She refused to help them. She just wanted to be able to hold everything against them instead of believing that it had nothing to do with them. Why blame a witch when you can blame your own friends and family for everything?

Sue beamed at him. 'Are you okay, sweetie?'

He shook his head. 'I need to get out of here. I will see you in a bit.' He ran out of there before he exploded, not even able to turn around and look back at his family without feeling the temptation to attack his own sister.

'What is going on here?' Sam asked as he walked into the Black family house. Emily had texted him a few hours ago, asking him to meet her at Billy's house because they had to 'sort something out once and for all.'

There was a young woman sitting in the living room next to a clearly distressed Billy. She had frizzy ginger hair that fell around her shoulders and old-fashioned glasses resting on the end of her nose. She smiled up at Sam and he noticed that her teeth were an awful yellowy colour. She looked vile but he was too polite to say anything. No wonder Billy looked horrified; Sam could smell her BO from here. 'Sam, meet Mary.' Emily smiled happily. She looked a completely different person from this morning. Earlier she had looked upset and pissed off; now she looked like she had a new lease of life. Why did he have such a bad feeling about this?

'Hello Mary.' Sam glanced in the woman's direction before his eyes fell back on his fiancée. 'What is going on?'

'Mary is from the local old people's home and she came to see Billy today to see about getting him taken into a home.' Emily added brightly.

Sam stared at her, open-mouthed. 'You're doing what?'

'Sam, Billy is getting older now and he needs looking after. He talks about things he shouldn't be talking about and I think he needs help.' Emily told him politely. She was annoyed by his attitude. He should be happy about this.

'There's nothing wrong with Billy, Emily.'

'There's everything wrong with this man. He keeps talking complete gibberish.' Emily argued.

'We're not putting him in a home, Emily.' Sam told her calmly.

'But-'

'Emily, at this moment in time I think I'd rather put you in a home than Billy so stop acting like a bitch and leave him alone.' Sam thundered at her before running from the home as he too succumbed to his anger.


End file.
